Beauty of the Darkness is an album that sat on my drive for over four months as I waited on something that in the end did not happen. I have to assume that the album itself was not ready. Life is like a box of frogs or somesuch. I went on and did “Melting Machine” & “Red Roofs & Wishes” as I waited.
The musical style is a form of Gothic Rock or Goth as at around 1985. This is not meant to be some sort of failed Retrowave or Synthwave album. This is the idea of how I take in the beauty of Goth from that period is expressed through what I do as a composer. Just as my drawing of a “death lily” is imperfect, so is this record. Hopefully, if you listen with an open mind you will find a form of perfection.
If you like the music, please purchase it at Bandcamp for $5 as this is the only way that Indie musicians like me earn money these days.
- Mine – got its name because I felt like I kept hearing the word “mine” every time the snare hit. I don’t expect you to hear it but I did at the time.
- Light in the Dark – nothing is all one way or another.
- Maria of the Southern Sea – ended up being dedicated to the memory of a friend’s wife who passed as I was working on this track. I never met her but she seemed to enjoy life.
- Pearls – was written unexpectedly whilst the album was on hold and seemed like it belonged.
- Lord It – felt a bit unfinished when I first listened, but I shared it and people seemed to really like it exactly as it was.
- Disappointment – to be honest, I am not sure what this was about. No doubt someone who was pretending to be more “pro” than me was behaving poorly.
- Is That All – was the first track written and absolutely not where I thought I was about to go for my next project. The idea just came as did the line (read by the computer). The feeling was that sometimes it seems a lot harder to let go than it is. People will just drop away with no fanfare at all.
- 30 Days – again, I don’t recall exactly what this was about. I think I wanted to express a sense of time that seems both a lot and a little at the same time.
- Stopgap – is a strange name and a piece that almost seems at odds seeing it seems to lean in other directions. At the same time, I think it makes a great ending piece. The name was a reference to the album being held up for what I thought would be a week but became many months (somewhat fruitlessly in the end).